The Takedown(81)

I struggled out of my coat. Then I whipped it at him.

“I hate you, Mackenzie Rodriguez!”

“Kyla—”

“I fell for you the second I saw you, freshman year.” I flung my scarf at him. “And since then I have watched you make out with almost every female on the planet and still you’ve managed to be the best part of any of this, you dumb jerk. But you want to stop being my friend? Now? What, because some new skank is there waiting for you? Go ahead!”

Hat.

“End our friendship.”

New faux-leather gloves.

“Ruin the entire point of this whole crummy exercise in not dating because you’re impatient and you can’t wait a little longer for me.”

One shoe. “This is what I was trying to prevent all along…” Other shoe. “…you complete and total a-hole.”

Fresh out of winter wear, I stood gasping for breath. It looked like Mac had been standing next to a snowman that melted. He pressed his fists to his forehead almost like he was going to laugh, but then he flung his head back and kind of, like, howled instead.

“So what are we supposed to do?” His voice cracked. “Because you clearly don’t trust me, which means you’ll never date me. And this ‘look but don’t touch’ thing we’ve got going on? It makes me crazy, so we can’t be just friends.”

And then all of a sudden his eyes filled, his lower lip kind of trembled, and Mac, my Mac, started to cry. Clearly not pleased with this development, he gave an exasperated huff. Yet tears kept sneaking out. He brushed them away with his thumb, sniffed. More tears came. And watching Mac try to not cry while fully crying—at the thought of losing me, mind you—I mean, it was almost as upsetting as watching the Mr. E. video for the first time.

Whatever other labels he fell under, Mac was one of my best friends. We were supposed to protect each other from hurt, not cause it.

All my anger dissolved away as if I had melted out of my clothes. Picking up my coat, I rummaged through the pockets until I found a tissue. I handed it to him. He blew his nose. I picked a fleck of tissue off his cheek.

“Thanks.”

He held his arms open. I walked into them and, in my socked feet, stood on his shoes. I messed with his curls. He pressed into my touch. We put our foreheads together. And it was then I realized I did trust him. Mac had been there for me this week. More than my mom or my dad or my brother, and, with the exception of maybe Sharma, more than any of the girls. So what did the past matter? Mom and Audra were right. The thing about history was that it was freshly created every second.

I’ve never understood indirectness or people who were afraid of definitive sentences. It’s actually really easy to get what you want. You just say it. And what I wanted was Mackenzie Rodriguez.

“Mac—”

He kissed the side of my head and untangled himself.

“It’s been real, amiga. Be safe tomorrow in Philly, okay?”

Sure, I could have stopped him. I could have completed my sentence. But if Mac so badly wanted to walk out of my life without any further discussion, then I figured it was probably best that I let him.





At two a.m. my Doc belched. It was the new txt sound I’d given to AnyLies. President Malin always said that we are born limitless and then proceed to chip away at that status throughout our lives. She said we create our own fears. So I figured why give AnyLies the power of a scary txt tone?

Audra could worship the B&P chick, or, well, herself, I guess—ew, hello, narcissism—all she wanted. Corny as it might be, I still thought President Malin was the SHT, and her Limitless speech still equaled my all-time fave. I’d first heard it after a particularly rough spell with my mom second week sophomore year. Up to that point, I’d been using my mom as my sage-advice wellspring. But since I began at Prep, all her advice had gone down the “maybe you should try being less you” route.

President Malin had been my go-to guru ever since.

My Doc belched again.

I know we’re not txt friends anymore.

Was wondering tho how it feels?



After a lengthy pause, I replied.

moi How what feels?

Coming in last. Not on top anymore, are you? Look at what weak foundations you built. I took it all away in a matter of days.

moi That’s what you think.

My Doc spooled angrily.

THAT IS WHAT I KNOW.

Grinning, I fluffed my pillows, then clicked off my light. Before muting my Doc and hunkering deep under my covers, I shot off one last message. I even happy-sighed as I closed my eyes. It would be a good sleeping night.

moi Sure thing. I just hope you’re ready. I am SO coming to get you.





A HopSkip bus to Philadelphia took two hours and cost eighty-five dollars round-trip. Sharma and I arrived forty minutes early and still had to wait in a line at least a hundred people long. Last night, I’d group txted all the usuals about going to Philly, and then one by one I’d deleted names from the list. Mac’s went first, then Audra’s, then Fawn’s, and last Kyle’s. So it was only Sharma who’d received the Rory debriefing, along with the Woofer pic that AnyLies had sent me of her wearing the Kyla wig. Her reply had been instant.

sharm Ha! Where’d you find that? Wore it all night. Me + extensions = awesome. What time we leaving for cheesesteak central?